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What If We All Gave One Bag From Each Grocery Trip?

The “most wonderful time of the year” is right around the corner. It’s a time when families gather around decorated tables prepped with feasts and around a bunch of gifts to distribute. It’s a time to curl up in front of the fireplace and rest in shelter from the winter. It’s a wonderful time for only a fraction of the world’s population.

There is another part of the population who will spend the Christmas holiday reflecting on past events that led to their hunger, or their homelessness, or both. There is an even larger population that is surviving – but just barely. What many of us tend to do in privileged American society is reach out to the poor during the holidays, if at all, and shut our eyes to their needs the rest of the year. Too often I’ve been guilty of this.

All of the above mentioned dilemmas can be remedied. Local food banks and mission centers manage food pantries as well as clothing centers that accept donations for free distribution – year-round. If a significant number of givers (those with hearts to give) were to make a personal decision to donate at least one small to large bag of groceries from each grocery trip to a local food bank or mission center, imagine the significance from the receiving end! With additional opportunities to donate clothing and other items that might not be needed in our homes, imagine the additional covering that we are providing others who may need clothes on their backs or necessities that they wouldn’t be able to afford.

Here is a blog where I’d like to offer my knowledge of centers that take donations for free distribution. But you may also know of places where donations are accepted. Please feel free to send your input in the comment section. (And as with blogging on any Biblically-based topics, you are also welcome as a guest blogger on this subject. Just comment and I can re-upload it as a blog.)